The conventional process for electroplating conductive fingers of electrical connectors on circuit boards is to extend the fingers beyond the edge of the board and then add a plating bar to electrically connect the fingers. This does not work well when the board design requires shortened fingers that do not extend to the edge of the board. The current method leaves stubs and traces in valuable areas of real estate on the board, and is difficult to implement.
There is a need, not met in the prior art, of a method for electroplating a plurality of conductive fingers that is simple, cost-effective and does not leave stubs and traces on useable circuit board real estate. Accordingly, there is a significant need for a method that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art outlined above.
Elements in the Figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the Figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, the terms “first”, “second”, and the like herein, if any, are used inter alia for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequential or chronological order. Moreover, the terms “front”, “back”, “top”, “bottom”, “over”, “under”, and the like in the Description and/or in the Claims, if any, are generally employed for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for comprehensively describing exclusive relative position. Any of the preceding terms so used may be interchanged under appropriate circumstances such that various embodiments of the invention described herein may be capable of operation in other configurations and/or orientations than those explicitly illustrated or otherwise described.